Chapter 017 017

Yan Jin ordered a lot of dishes, and even though Yu Shu shared some of them, the remaining dishes still filled up a large table.

“I didn’t know what flavors you like besides sweet, so I ordered a bit of everything,” Yan Jin said casually as she wiped her hands. “On the way, you mentioned the panda.”

Yu Shu corrected, “It’s called Rou Bao.”

“Oh, Rou Bao,” Yan Jin readily changed her wording. “On the way, you mentioned what Rou Bao can eat, so I had the chefs there make a portion of each to bring back. If Rou Bao is willing to eat later, then we can eat first, and once we’re full, we can see if it has eaten its fill.”

Yu Shu furrowed his brows slightly, “But Rou Bao is so small, I’m afraid it won’t eat on its own if we don’t feed it.”

Yan Jin didn’t quite understand, “But you’ve been busy all morning, aren’t you hungry?”

“I am,” Yu Shu nodded honestly, “But if I’m hungry, I’ll find food myself. If Rou Bao is hungry, it won’t find food on its own, so I have to take care of it first. Yan Jin, you go ahead and eat, don’t wait for me.”

Yan Jin gave Yu Shu a puzzled look but didn’t try to persuade him further. Instead, she took a bowl and began ladling soup.

Yu Shu didn’t feel that Yan Jin not waiting for him to eat together was impolite. After all, strictly speaking, they had only met for the second day and were just fellow townspeople huddling together for warmth.

After interacting these past two days, Yu Shu had come to understand Yan Jin to some extent. She didn’t really understand social etiquette and was a socially awkward person who stubbornly claimed not to be socially awkward.

If it were someone else, they might have felt embarrassed to eat alone at this point and chosen to feed the panda together with him before eating. But given Yan Jin’s personality, Yu Shu suspected she didn’t have any sense of awkwardness at all.

Yu Shu himself felt it didn’t matter, but the bullet comments had other opinions.

[Yan Jin is so rude, not even waiting for Yu Shu and starting to eat by herself.] [The previous commenter has issues. Yan Jin clearly suggested that the two of them eat first, and once they’re full, then go feed the panda. It was Yu Shu who said he wasn’t willing to!] [Yu Shu was just being polite in saying that, but Yan Jin really went ahead and ate first without any reservations??]

When Yu Shu saw Rou Bao successfully swallow the food, he was delighted. Just as he wanted to share this joy with Yan Jin, he smelled a tantalizing aroma coming from beside him.

Turning his head to look, he saw Yan Jin holding a steaming hot bowl of soup, squatting by his side. “Then at least drink a bowl of soup to line your stomach first.”

Yan Jin’s eyes were still as calm as usual, revealing no joy or anger.

At first, Yu Shu was a bit worried about getting along with Yan Jin because of her expression. But now, Yu Shu wasn’t worried anymore, because when conversing with Yan Jin, he discovered that she wasn’t as distant as her appearance suggested.

The reason Yan Jin always had this calm expression was that even with a blank face, her eyes still revealed a hint of irrepressible charm.

Since she didn’t like interacting with people, if her expression wasn’t cold, she would probably attract even more admirers.

And if Yan Jin acted more enthusiastic than usual—thinking of this, Yu Shu subconsciously glanced at the table and found that there wasn’t another steaming bowl on it. He couldn’t help feeling a bit overwhelmed by the favor.

Certain that Yan Jin had just ladled the soup for him, Yu Shu felt very subtle and complex inside.

Yu Shu took the soup bowl Yan Jin handed him and looked at the few soft, sticky lotus root slices floating in the fragrant, thick, milky white pork rib soup. He felt even more subtly complex.

Could it be that since Yan Jin disliked socializing so much, he was the first outsider besides her parents that she had served soup to?

Thinking of this, Yu Shu felt even more overwhelmed.

As the warm pork rib soup slid down his throat, Yu Shu felt as if his heart had also warmed up quite a bit.

After serving Yu Shu the soup, Yan Jin felt she had completed her task. She also ladled a bowl of soup for herself and began sipping it slowly.

Yan Jin’s stomach was really quite hungry, and she didn’t want to make herself suffer by feeding the panda together with Yu Shu.

But eating on her own while ignoring Yu Shu made Yan Jin feel a bit awkward. After all, this diverged from the social rule of “sharing difficulties together” that she had read about in books.

So after some thought, Yan Jin decided to ladle a bowl of soup for Yu Shu. Once her intentions were conveyed, she could eat without any burden.

While drinking the soup, Yan Jin was still pondering whether she could find an excuse later to take her food and slip back to her room to eat.

There was no other reason, Yan Jin was simply used to eating alone and didn’t like eating with others.

But while she could hide temporarily, she couldn’t hide forever.